Roger Blench

Blench is known for his wide-ranging interests and has made important contributions to African linguistics,{{cite journal |jstor= 40380107 |series= Review |first= John |last= Hewson |title= Archaeology, Language, and the African Past |editor-first= Roger |editor-last= Blench |journal= Canadian Journal of African Studies |volume= 41 |issue= 3 |date= 2007 |pages= 574–579}} Southeast Asian linguistics, anthropology, ethnomusicology, ethnobotany, and various other related fields. He has done significant research on the Niger–Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afroasiatic families, as well as the Arunachal languages. Additionally, Blench has published extensively on the relationship between linguistics and archaeology. Blench is currently engaged in a long-term project to document the languages of central Nigeria. He has also expressed concern about ranching in Nigeria.{{cite web | last=Rachael | first=Abujah | title=British anthropologist advises against ranching in Nigeria | website=EnviroNews Nigeria | date=2018-11-08 | url=http://www.environewsnigeria.com/british-anthropologist-advises-against-ranching-in-nigeria/ | access-date=2022-11-17}}{{cite web | title=British anthropologist advises against ranching in Nigeria | website=Royal News | date=2018-11-09 | url=https://royalnews.com.ng/british-anthropologist-advises-against-ranching-in-nigeria/ | access-date=2022-11-17}}

Blench collaborated with the late Professor Kay Williamson, who died in January 2005, and is now a trustee of the Kay Williamson Educational Foundation, which exists both to publish the unpublished material left by Kay Williamson and to promote the study of Nigerian languages.[http://rogerblench.info/KWEF/KWEF/KWEFOP.htm Kay Williamson Educational Foundation] A series of publications supported by the trust is under way with Rüdiger Köppe Verlag in Cologne.[http://rogerblench.info/KWEF/KWEF/KWEFpubs/KWEF%20publications.htm KWEF: Publications supported]

Blench has also conducted research and evaluations of international development activities worldwide, as a consultant and research fellow of the Overseas Development Institute in London.[http://rogerblench.info/Consultancy/Blench%20Complete%20CV%20January%202021.pdf Academic Curriculum Vitae], Roger Blench, January 2021.

Old North African speakers, who have been misidentified as Paleoberbers and did not speak a language(s) that is linguistically related to existing Berber languages, were foragers of prehistoric North Africa that spoke a presently extinct set(s) of languages.{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |date=Feb 14, 2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-47408-5 |page=455 |doi=10.1017/9781108634311.014 |s2cid=197854997 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOeADwAAQBAJ |chapter=The Linguistic Prehistory of the Sahara}} Roger Blench coined the term, "Old North African," to describe and distinguish earlier languages spoken in North Africa from later languages spoken by incoming Berber speakers, Punic speakers, and Arabic speakers.{{cite journal |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Relating linguistic reconstructions of plant names in Berber to the archaeobotany of North Africa |url=https://www.academia.edu/36413349 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |year=2021 |volume=38 |page=103009 |publisher=University of Cambridge|doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103009 |bibcode=2021JArSR..38j3009B |s2cid=236255444 }}

From coastal North Africa to Iberia (e.g., Spain), ethnic groups spoke a set(s) of languages known as Old North African, which were not necessarily genetically related to one another. Ethnic groups of Iberia that spoke the Tartessian language may be considered Old North African speakers.{{cite journal |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Berber plant names and the archaeobotany of the Maghreb |date=June 2018 |page=9 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36928470 |website=Academia.edu |publisher=University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria}} Ethnic groups and the archaeological cultures of North Africa that came before the Capsian culture, ethnic groups of the Capsian culture,{{cite book |last1=Fentress |first1=Elizabeth |title=Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |date=February 14, 2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108474085 |doi=10.1017/9781108634311.016 |s2cid=197849476 |page=498 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOeADwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Old+North+African%22+language+%22Blench%22&pg=PA498 |chapter=The Archaeological and Genetic Correlates of Amazigh Linguistics}} and ethnic groups of the Neolithic Maghreb are considered to be Old North African speakers. As large animals migrated into and across the Green Sahara, Old North African speakers, who hunted them as game animals, also migrated into and across the Sahara.{{cite book |last1=Gatto |first1=M. C. |last2=Mattingly |first2=D. J. |last3=Ray |first3=N. |last4=Sterry |first4=M. |title=Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond |date=21 June 2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108634311 |doi=10.1017/9781108634311 |s2cid=242202654 |pages=429–548 |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/burials-migration-and-identity-in-the-ancient-sahara-and-beyond/linguistic-aspects-of-migration-and-identity/0A989014E31C91AF34D78941086E9DAE |chapter=Part VI - Linguistic Aspects of Migration and Identity}} The variety of cultures in the Maghreb described by Herodotus in 2500 BP may have been the cultural variety existing among Old North African speakers at that time.

In 300 BCE, Guanche speakers, who may have been Old North African speakers rather than Berber speakers, may have peopled the Canary Islands.{{cite journal |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=The peopling of the Canaries by the Berbers: new data and new hypotheses |journal=Études et Documents Berbères |date=2021 |volume=1-2 |issue=45–46 |pages=149–173 |doi=10.3917/edb.045.0151 |s2cid=248869039 |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-et-documents-berberes-2021-1-page-149.htm}} Though speculative, Guanche speakers may have spoken the Basque language, Tartessian language, and other similar languages of the Iberian Peninsula; supportive evidence for this view may be found in the few lexemes that have been related to the Basque language and an absence of Berber etymology found in some Guanche words.

Due to the migration of incoming Arabic (e.g., Hassānīya), Berber (e.g., Tuareg), and Punic speakers, Old North African languages may have eventually ceased being spoken in North Africa.

Remnants of extinct Old North African languages may have been preserved in the ancient Egyptian language.{{cite journal |last1=Panaite |first1=Elena |title=Tjehenou, Tjemeh et les libyens : à la recherche d'une langue libyque dans les premières sources écrites de l'Ancienne Égypte |journal=Études et Documents Berbères |date=2021 |volume=1-2 |issue=45–46 |pages=315–328 |doi=10.3917/edb.045.0317 |s2cid=248870231 |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-et-documents-berberes-2021-1-page-315.htm}} For example, language contacts between Darfurian and Chadian proto-languages with the ancient Egyptian language. Additionally, the Tehenu and Temehu, which may have been ethnic groups with cultures and languages distinct from one another, may have also had their languages preserved in the ancient Egyptian language.

The Libyco-Berber script may be the result of a creolization process between the Berber and Old North African languages; this creolized language may reflect the linguistic connections between modern Berber speakers and Guanche speakers of the Canary Islands. Among many unknown elements found in rock engravings on the Canary Islands, some evidence (e.g., few basic lexicon, numbers) of the Punic language and Libyco-Berber script have been found.{{cite book |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |editor-first1=Lyle |editor-last1=Campbell |title=Language Isolates |date=Oct 3, 2017 |publisher=Routledge |location=London and New York |page=183 |isbn=9781317610915 |doi=10.4324/9781315750026 |s2cid=90057407 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGxQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 |chapter=African Language Isolates }} While the general view of the Berber languages being linguistically connected to the Guanche language is based largely on numerical evidence, it is also as probable that the affinity found between the languages are due to late-added Berber loanwords and that Guanche speakers were Old North African speakers. The Numidian language, which may have also been an Old North African language, constitutes the rock engravings in the Canary Islands.{{cite journal |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Africa over the last 12000 years: how we can interpret the interface of archaeology, linguistics and genetics |date=21 October 2017 |page=20 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28768228 |website=Academia.edu |publisher=University of Cambridge}}

The internal diversity of the Berber languages are not able to be reconciled with how early the Neolithic (7000 BP, afterwards) and Capsian (12,000 BP - 8000 BP) periods occurred in North Africa; thus, these Neolithic and Capsian periods in North Africa are not able to be characterized as "Berber." The foundational vocabulary of the Berber languages, if not due to how long the Berber languages have been diverged from other Afroasiatic languages, may reflect inheritance from Old North African languages.

While possibly being Nilo-Saharan languages, the Nemadi and Dawada languages may also be descendant languages of the Old North African languages. Genetics may further inform the academic discussion about the connections between Old North African speakers and Nilo-Saharan speakers to the south of the Maghreb.{{cite journal |last1=Broodbank |first1=Cyprian |last2=Lucarini |first2=Giulio |title=The Dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600-1000 bc: An Interpretative Synthesis of Knowns and Unknowns |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/301951/4-Broodbank%26Lucarini-FINALtxt.docx?sequence=3&isAllowed=y |journal=Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology |date=January 2019 |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=195 |doi=10.1558/jma.40581 |s2cid=212900990}}

• {{cite book| author = David Henry Crozier| author2 = R. Blench | author3= Keir Hansford | others=Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council. Language Development Centre, University of Ilorin. Dept. of Linguistics & Nigerian Languages, Summer Institute of Linguistics| title = An index of Nigerian languages| year = 1992| publisher = Summer Institute of Linguistics| isbn = 0-88312-611-7 }}

• {{cite book |lccn=96044969 |isbn=0415117607 |volume=1

|title=Theoretical and Methodological Orientations

|series=Archaeology and Language |access-date=2014-02-07

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqKrB5_6EtsC&q=archaeology+and+language+blench+spriggs

|editor1-link=Roger Blench |editor1-first=Roger |editor1-last=Blench

|editor2-link=Matthew Spriggs |editor2-first=Matthew |editor2-last=Spriggs

|location=London; New York |publisher=Routledge |date=Aug 28, 1997}}

• {{cite book |lccn=96044969|isbn=0415117615 |volume=2 |year=1998

|title=Archaeological Data and Linguistic Hypotheses

|series=Archaeology and Language |access-date=2014-02-07

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWMHhfXxLaIC&q=archaeology+and+language+blench+spriggs+II+Archaeological+Data+and+Linguistic+Hypotheses

|editor1-link=Roger Blench |editor1-first=Roger |editor1-last=Blench |editor2-first=Matthew |editor2-last=Spriggs

|location=London; New York |publisher=Routledge}}

• {{cite book |lccn=96044969|isbn=0415100542 |year=1997 |volume=3

|title=Artefacts, Languages and Texts

|series=Archaeology and Language |access-date=2014-02-07

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTBTcQ6QXRcC&q=archaeology+and+language+blench+spriggs

|editor1-link=Roger Blench |editor1-first=Roger |editor1-last=Blench |editor2-first=Matthew |editor2-last=Spriggs

|location=London; New York |publisher=Routledge}}

• {{cite book |lccn=96044969|isbn=0415117860 |year=1999 |volume=4

|title=Language Change and Cultural Transformation

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUvnqjutFmoC

|series=Archaeology and Language |access-date=2014-02-07

|editor1-link=Roger Blench |editor1-first=Roger |editor1-last=Blench |editor2-first=Matthew |editor2-last=Spriggs

|location=London; New York |publisher=Routledge}}

• 2000. Blench, R. M. & MacDonald, K. C., eds. The Origin and Development of African Livestock. London: University College Press.
• {{cite book| author = Laurent Sagart|author2=Roger Blench |author3=Alicia Sanchez-Mazas | title = The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics| year = 2005| publisher = Psychology Press| isbn = 978-0-415-32242-3 }}
• {{cite book| author = Blench, Roger| title = Archaeology, language, and the African past| year = 2006| publisher = Altamira Press| isbn = 978-0-7591-0465-5 }}
• Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia; Blench, R. M. et al., eds. 2008. Human Migrations in Continental East Asia and Taiwan: matching archaeology, linguistics and genetics. London: Routledge.
• Blench, R. M. 1985. "Social Determinants of the Use of Speech-Surrogate Systems in Two Nigerian Societies : A Comparative Study of Speech and Music among the Nupe and Gbari Peoples." Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. {{doi|10.17863/CAM.20118}}.

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• {{Official website|http://rogerblench.info/}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1953 births

Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge

Category:Historical linguists

Category:British Africanists

Category:Linguists of Southeast Asian languages

Category:Linguists of Nilo-Saharan languages

Category:Linguists of Nilotic languages

Category:Linguists of Niger–Congo languages

Category:Linguists of Afroasiatic languages

Category:Linguists of Sino-Tibetan languages

Category:Linguists of Hrusish languages

Category:Linguists of Vazimba

Category:20th-century British linguists

Category:21st-century British linguists